Led
by students from the local community, the project focuses on the heritage of
migration in the region and the contributions made to the local area and
considers contemporary topics of migration today.

Students
of Art and Design from Bexhill College and Sussex Coast College Hastings have
worked with Bexhill Museum, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery and the De La Warr
Pavilion, exploring the heritage of migration in the area through archived
material and artefacts which date back to 80AD.

The
students have curated innovative exhibition displays at each cultural venue,
exhibiting the heritage uncovered by the project alongside contemporary
artworks responding to migration.

The
People-Object-Place project aims to identify and raise awareness of the rich
and varied heritage relating to the migration of people, design and material
culture to the area over many centuries, dating from Roman-occupied Britain.

The
project enabled the student-led team to create exhibitions that showcase the
influences and contributions migration has had on the region and demonstrate
that the movement of people from place to place can relate to everyone.

Guests
of many ethnic origins mingled with volunteers from the independent,
voluntarily-run museum at the exhibitionís launch on Friday, July 7th.

Museum
chairman John Betts told Rother District Council chairman Cllr Mary Barnes and
Deputy Town Mayor Cllr Abul Azad and other guests that he believed Bexhill
residents did not recognise the achievements of the museum. The townís second
largest tourist attraction was credited with a financial impact on the local
economy of £700,000 a year. Since 2008 it had attracted £190,000 worth of
Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council funding in addition to £900,000 HLF funding
for the 2009 expansion of the museum.

With
just one full-time member of staff, one part-timer and the services of Rotherís
museums curator, the 400-member museum was almost totally reliant on the work
of a hundred volunteers.

Quoting
the Portuguese Nobel prize-winner author Jose Saramago on the subject of
migration, Colin Heminway said students had been working on People-Object-Place
since September 2016.

In
addition to the Heritage Lottery Fund, he thanked Education Training Consortium
Sussex for assistance with the project.

After
a reception in the Education Room, guests were given a tour of the museumís
three galleries.

Highlights
of People-Object-Place are large screen-printed steel sheets lining the
corridor area and detailing the contribution to local culture made by migrants
such as De La Warr Pavilion architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff.